The End of Summer and the Beginning of Autumn

       This summer was a busy one, maybe the busiest.  The academy hosted students and groups from many different countries, including Romania, Spain, Thailand, Germany, Japan, Russia, America, Australia, Italy, and many others.  It was really quite amazing to see so many people from such a multitude of different countries convening at the academy to study traditional Wudang wushu under Master Yuan.  Many of Master Yuan's elder students began helping with teaching as the demand for instruction grew with so many students. 
Before the summer became too hot, Master Yuan took a large group of students to Wu Long Gong, the Five Dragon Temple, where they stayed the night and woke early the next morning for the long hike to Zi Xiao Gong, Purple Heaven Palace.  Thankfully there were a few more of us this time that remembered the path from previous years so we didn't get lost.
This summer also marked the release of Jackie Chan's movie, 'The Karate Kid', which Master Yuan had a cameo appearance in, performing Eight Immortals Staff at Zi Xiao Gong.  It was quite amazing to watch Master Yuan on the big screen and everyone cheered aloud when he appeared on screen.
Multiple different television stations and shows came to film about Wudang as well as Master Yuan, his students, and the academy.  We were visited by television stations from within China as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan.  
In the middle of August, a group of 10 students from the foreigners' traditional class were invited to travel to Beijing to take part in a performance with Jackie Chan.  After 2 weeks of training for the performance, they returned just in time to celebrate their one year of training together as a group. 
The fall weather has begun to set in and everyone is walking around in sweatshirts as the weather has made a drastic jump from the high 20's and sometimes 30's to about 15 degrees.  The weather is comfortable for training and the leaves are beginning to change color as we prepare to make the transition from the warm and hot months to the cool and cold ones.  But after such a warm summer, everyone is embracing the comfortably cool temperatures. 
We celebrated the coming of Autumn during the Mid-Autumn Festival last week.  We had a big dinner followed by performances of different plays, music, etc. and ended the night with karaoke and dancing.  This Friday, the first of October we will also be celebrating National Day.
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